Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Infusion of life or spirit; vivifying influence.
- noun Inanimateness.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Lack of animation; lifeless; dullness.
- noun obsolete Infusion of life or vigor; animation; inspiration.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Want of animation; lifeless; dullness.
- noun Infusion of life or vigor; animation; inspiration.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word inanimation.
Examples
-
Yes, the tale is a fantasy and the objects return to inanimation after Tony awakens and finds inspiration in their work (suggesting that perhaps he dreamed what they wrote).
-
It seems to have been in the winter of 1876, after an unprecedented period of inanimation, that he started a new comedy, The Pillars of
Henrik Ibsen 2008
-
It seems to have been in the winter of 1876, after an unprecedented period of inanimation, that he started a new comedy, The Pillars of
Henrik Ibsen 2008
-
Towards evening I sink into a state of lethargy and inanimation, and often remain for hours on the sofa between sleep and waking, a prey to the most painful irritability of thought.
-
Was that my child — that moveless decaying inanimation?
The Last Man 2003
-
Rest had turned to inanimation, quiet to dulness, peace to stagnation.
Flint His Faults, His Friendships and His Fortunes Maud Wilder Goodwin
-
I chewed that mixture of bread, dust and tobacco, but I could not swallow it, and gave it all masticated to one of my young brothers, who had fallen from inanimation.
-
His studied inanimation, his crudely self-conscious pose, his dull, little, peasant eyes staring at the faces that drift by in the lobby -- these ask for translation.
A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago Ben Hecht 1929
-
A voice, a call, some sudden strange or familiar message on old paths, to the consciousness that lies under that apparent unconsciousness, will waken all these semblances of inanimation into new life of arms and fins and wings.
The Flutter of the Goldleaf; and Other Plays Frederick Peterson 1918
-
On Sunday the elections began with absolute inanimation.
Caesar or Nothing P��o Baroja 1914
hernesheir commented on the word inanimation
"Lifelessness, dullness", versus "a vivifying influence". This word at once implies and means it's near opposite.
January 6, 2012